Microsoft is slashing storage space for its OneDrive users, claiming that a “small number of users” abused the limitless storage offering.
Unlimited storage was previously available to everyone who subscribed to Office 365, Microsoft’s cloud-based business productivity service.
However, Microsoft has now introduced a OneDrive storage limit, after some users started taking the ‘unlimited’ promise to its extremes.
In a blog post explaining the change, Microsoft says: “Since we started to roll out unlimited cloud storage to Office 365 consumer subscribers, a small number of users backed up numerous PCs and stored entire movie collections and DVR recordings.”
“In some instances, this exceeded 75TB per user or 14,000 times the average.”
“Instead of focusing on extreme backup scenarios, we want to remain focused on delivering high-value productivity and collaboration experiences that benefit the majority of OneDrive users.”
Starting in 2016, free users will only receive 5GB of free storage, down from 15GB. Microsoft is also discontinuing the 15GB camera roll storage bonus that allowed mobile users to upload their pictures to OneDrive. Like the free tier, the camera roll will stop in early 2016.
Microsoft is also doing away with the 100GB and 200GB OneDrive paid plans priced at $1.99 and $3.99 per month respectively. Instead, it will roll out 50GB of storage for $1.99 per month in early 2016. Anyone needing more storage than that can get 1TB and Office 365 Personal for $6.99 per month.
By comparison, Dropbox and Google Drive charge $9.99 per month for 1TB of storage.